WPRO News with reports from WPRO’s Andrew Augustus
House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello is calling for an investigation into what he calls a “failure” at the Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) over the closure of Cranston’s Park Avenue Bridge.
The bridge was ordered closed by RIDOT Tuesday after “significant deterioration” was found in the timber deck. The bridge sits just blocks away from Matteillo’s law office.
READ MORE
“I know the bridge was inspected nine months ago,” said Mattiello. “I accept the fact that it is not safe today, but I don’t believe it deteriorated in nine months to the point where it has to be immediately shut down.”
Governor Gina Raimondo said 150 other bridges were also marked structurally deficient nine months ago and four bridges have “blown out” since she was elected.
“We had the worst winter in a long time, and thankfully we inspected it and found out today it had to be closed immediately,” she said.
The Speaker said RIDOT should have been attending to the bridge sooner and that the closure is the result of a failure at the department.
“So I call upon the director of the DOT and the Governor for an investigation internally, criminally if necessary,” said Mattiello.
The governor said if there was indeed a problem inside RIDOT, it will be taken care of.
“Certainly if we find out that someone didn’t do their job, they will be held accountable, no question about it. That’s the way I operate, in fact, that’s why I got rid of the old director,” she said.
Raimondo said she was “not aware” of the close proximity of the bridge to Mattiello’s law office and said it was “the luck of the inspections.”
“Or the ‘unluck’ of the inspections,” she said.
